Demography of Brazil

The demography of Brazil is said to reach 24,821,286 by the end of July 2008 census. According to the demography of Brazil, it's the 6th most populous country in the world after China, India, the United States, Indonesia and the Russian Federation. With a total area of 8,514,877 sq km the birth rate is 22.65 births per 1,000 populations.

History

The Brazilian population growth rate was high throughout the early and mid 20th century but has decreased significantly since the 1970 due to largely the economic modernization and a dramatic urbanization process. With a diverse population comprising many races and ethnic groups, the Brazilian origin can be traced back to four sources of migration:

The Amerindians were Brazil's original population and they came from human groups that migrated from Siberia across the Bering Strait about 9000 BC.

The Portuguese settlers and colonists started arriving from 1500 onwards.

During the late 19th century and the early 20th century various groups of immigrants from Europe, Asia and the Middle East started coming in Brazil.

Large numbers of African slaves were brought to the country from the 1530s until the end of the slave trade in 1850.

It is believed that the Americans settled in Brazil from the Northern Asia and the Portuguese and the African are said to be descends from early European settlers. Basically from the 16th the century vast majority of Europeans immigrated to Brazil coming from Portugal. The key Native Brazilian groups were the Tupi-Guarani, the Arawaks, the Jê and the Caraibas (Caribs). The first Germans arrived in Brazil in 1824 establishing themselves in rural communities across Southern Brazil. It's said between 1870 and 1953, nearly 5.5 million immigrants entered Brazil.

Italians 1,550,000

Portuguese 1,470,000

Spaniards 650,000

Germans 210,000

Japanese 190,000

Poles 120,000

Other Nationalities 650,000

Recent Growth

The early part of the 20th century witnessed a large influx of Japanese and Arab settlers. The Japanese are said to be the largest Asian group in Brazil and the largest Japanese population outside Japan is in Brazil. There are about 1.5 million Japanese-Brazilians and most of them are living in São Paulo. An estimated number of 10 million Brazilian people are of Arab descent. The main ethnic groups of Brazil include:

Malay 50.4%

Chinese 23.7%

Indigenous 11%

Indian 7.1%

Others 7.8%

About 32.2% are in the age group of 0-14 years, 62.9% between the age group of 15-64 years and 4.8% are over 65 years. The main religions followed by the Brazilians are Muslim, Buddhist, Daoist, Hindu, Christian, Sikh; and even Shamanism is practiced in East Malaysia. a survey in Brazil's demography shows that: